Deposit Normal?

[MRBolton]

I got the call on a Submariner from a small single-location family AD. They said that Rolex has informed them it will be arriving in about 4 weeks, and the AD wanted a 50% deposit to mark it as sold to me when it arrives. I asked them to clarify that they're not going to put it on exhibition for a few weeks and then release to me, and they assured me that was not the case.

I've seen threads over the years where people will put a deposit down with no end in sight, so I was glad that wasn't the case here. It still struck me a bit odd that they would bother getting a deposit on a watch arriving so soon rather than just calling someone on the list upon its arrival.

Has anyone had something like this come up? Perhaps it's the new normal.